Oakland vs. San Francisco

First off, I’m a die hard Oakland Raiders fan, but I was born a Niner fan. Don’t worry, I’m not going to get deep into the 49er vs Raiders hatred. I see enough on social media. I don’t believe you have to hate the another team just because their home is in the same geographic area. I like to think my loyalties goes beyond one city. I live in a commuter household. As I travel the 30-45 minutes to work, I see fans wearing both Raiders and 49er apparel everyday. And it’s cool to me. The Bay Area is lucky to have several professional sports teams in the region. I like the 49ers and I love the Oakland Raiders. I root for the Oakland Athletics and love the San Francisco Giants. The Golden State Warriors are my favorite NBA team. And The San Jose Sharks have me interested in hockey.

When I was a kid, I watched a crazy Marcus Allen run for a Super Bowl record 74 yard touchdown at the end of 3rd quarter in Super Bowl XVIII for the Los Angeles Raiders. I was won over and became a 11 year old lifetime Raider fan. He finished for a total of 191 rushing yards that day and was named the game MVP. In addition to being one of the greatest running backs in NFL history, Allen was never considered an arrogant person. He played the game with class when football was real without the many rules and regulations in the game today. I admired his approach to the game and in life. I think in some ways, it helped shape me into the person I am today.

The NFC Championship

The 2014 NFC Championship was a great game. The 49ers played well but not good enough to win the game. The game went back and forth with the 49ers taking the early lead 10-3. The Seahawks scored first in the 3rd quarter on Marshawn Lynch’s 40 yard touchdown run. The Niners answered back on an Anquon Boldin score to retake the lead 17-10. They would not score again as Seattle scored the last 13 points to win the game.

Lynch had a big game rushing for 109 yards and a TD. Colin Kaepernick accounted for 283 yards of the 49ers 308 total net yards, but it was not enough as he also had 3 turnovers. The last was an interception in the end zone sealing the loss at the end of the 4th quarter.

The Officiating

There were some questionable calls against the 49ers. Now the San Francisco 49ers still had a chance to win at the end of the game so we can’t blame the officials for the loss. The fumble recovery by Navarro Bowman was an awful call. (BTW, our prayers go out to Bowman on his injury on that same play. Devastating blow to the Niner defense.) The personal foul penalty on Donte Whitner was also a missed call. Even going back to last week’s roughing the passer personal foul on Dan Skuta in the Divisional Playoff against the Carolina Panthers. In my opinion, the referees had a bad year.

I think the NFL officials need to define the rules more clearly and attend mandatory offseason training to minimize the many blown calls this year. This is troubling especially when the NFL referees held out to get a better union contract. The NFL needs to hold the officials accountable for the missed plays. An oversite official should be at every game that has the authority to address special case scenarios and be able to conduct a review of a play even if the rules designate a play as unreviewable. I mean the primary goal is to get a call correct regardless of what the rulebook states. I believe this will ensure the game is decided by the players and not by the officials on the field.

Classless Rants

30 years after Marcus Allen’s historic Super Bowl performance on January 19, 2014, cornerback, Richard Sherman tips a pass from Colin Kaepernick that gets intercepted, ending the San Francisco 49ers 2013/2014 season. In the post game interview, Sherman rants about being the best cornerback in the NFL and calls Crabtree an “mediocre receiver.” He just might be. He is a very good and skilled player. He’s a deserving Pro-Bowl player. But I lost all respect for him on Sunday.

I love when players show enthusiasm about the game and their gameplay, but to berate another player and belittle their performance and rub it in is unnecessary. You won the game. You’re going to the Super Bowl. Good job. Now show some thread of class and say “Good game.”

The Reactions

Crabtree did Respond via Tweet:

‏@KingCrab15
Film don’t lie… @nflnetwork @espn pull up the tape of that game and show me where this guy is the best? #fake #fake #fake

Here is the Bleacher Report post of Sherman’s rant along with some other reactions from players and media including:

Indianapolis Colts long snapper Matt Overton, who made the 2014 Pro Bowl:
WOW Sherman is a douche …. He’s good …. But I remember when TY Hilton dominated you
— Matt Overton (@MattOverton_LS)

Detroit Tigers ace Justin Verlander believes somebody would’ve sent Sherman a message if the corner played a different sport:
“So Russell is a class act! Sherman on the other hand…. If he played baseball would get a high and tight fastball.” @JustinVerlander

How It Should Be Played

I miss the days when arguably the best running back ever, Barry Sanders simply hands the football to the referee after scoring one of his spectacular touchdowns or when Marcus Allen just scores one of his 145 total TDs and doesn’t say a word.

The epitome of class is represented by my favorite football player, Walter Payton. He never disrespected another player. He simply performed. When he scored a touchdown, he either handed the ball to a teammate or to the official. Mike Ditka described him as the greatest player he’s ever seen, but a greater human being.

So what is the definition of Anti-class? The complete opposite of what I mentioned above AKA Richard “Dick” Sherman…

UPDATE 1/23/2014:

So the mic’d up video came out yesterday from NFL Network. It doesn’t look like Sherman said anything bad to Crabtree after the last play. After finding out more about Richard Sherman the last few days, I actually like the guy. He is a pretty cool person. I feel he is getting undeserved backlash for his post game interview. Yes, he shouldn’t have targeted Crabtgree in the interview. I still feel that was classless. But to condemn Sherman as a thug is going too far. My point was that it was a very unsportsmanlike act. In my opinion individual beefs and battles should occur on the field.

Some will ask, “What about Crabtree?” Wasn’t he being classless too for pushing Sherman away after the Seattle All-Pro just said: “Hell of a game!” to Crabtree? Yes, I agree he was. The difference? The audio of Crabtree’s act didn’t occur live in front of million’s of viewers. That gave the media the fuel to run with it and the Social networks buzzing.

So who is the bag guy here? I don’t know. Maybe there was a reason Crabtree fell to the 10th pick in the 2009 Draft when he was projected to be the first WR taken.